Fish Eye Len

Good news and bad news, first the good news bought a new lens this month. Now I have a Canon EF 15mm f.2.8 Fisheye Lensthat is going to add some creative shots to the picture gallery. Now for the bad news, my Canon EF 16-35 is in the shop, with a busted screw. I have grown to love my 16-35, it was my widest lens before buying the new fisheye. The fisheye is going to be fun to play with but I know I’m going to have to be careful, as distortion is one of it’s draw backs. Distortion as a fishing guide can give your photo’s a different look a creative look, but I also know it can loose you credibility if you are not careful. Holding and shooting your catch of the day in a particular way is creative art, but the line can be crossed if you use your shots for bragging rights. As the shot above shows, the focal point is the chartreuse fly and the brown trouts head. While the depth of field is shallow as I was trying to blend out the angler and emphasize the trout. Hoping to create a different look, while maintaining the size and shape of the trout without distortion. I think I did okay. I took this shot with an ISO of 200 at 15mm with a f/ 5.6 at 1/125.

Warmwater on Summer Days

With the dog days of summer upon us, there are pretty much a couple things you can do right now when it comes to fishing in Michigan. 1) Trout fishing with hoppers and furballs, 2) Warm-water species i.e. smallmouth and largemouth or 3) count the days until steelhead start showing up. I for one love my steelhead but also love the pursuit for the warm-water species. I personally think that smallmouth are the hardest fighting fish that we have in the great lakes area, pound for pound. They are also the most aggressive fish that we have, their curious nature usually gets the best of them when it comes to fishing with a fly. Big flashy flies both streamers and poppers get these fish to smash your offering. Also I believe that smallmouth are the best cross training fish that we have, that we need to use them as an angler to better ourselves as casters and fish fighters. It may seem simple but little techniques can be perfected on a smallmouth river that you can use later when fishing for trout, steelhead, or salmon. When opportunities might not be as plentiful (i.e. swinging flies for steelhead), but the practice of smallmouth has prepared you and your ready to cash in. The next 8 weeks are prime with July, Aug, and September being the best months. September is becoming one of my favorites as most anglers are hitting river mouths looking for Kings, Tippy Dam reservoir can be flooded with large smallmouth with the feed bag on. Make sure to take advantage of the warmwater season and cross train your angling skills.

Bring on the veggies


Enjoying the fruits or should I say veggies of our labor. Some of the first produce showing up in our first garden. It has been a very enjoyable process, digging, racking, planting, pruning, weeding, watering and now finally starting the eating.
As the intent of the blog is to show the many joys of out door activities, my main focus will for the most part be water related joys. Here are a couple pics of what working the land can provide. More fish related pics coming soon, as the hopper shots are starting to come in. Hot weather not only helps the tomatoes grow, but gets our hoppers going as well.